Firstly, thanks to the modern feminist wave and apt mediums like OTT platforms, that at least we now have so many stories where females have taken the lead. Women characters are now breaking stereotypes, coming out of the ‘sanskari’ shell and chasing their dreams.
We have seen this in many recent digital movies and shows like Aarya, She, Four More Shots Please, Made In Heaven, Mirzapur, Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, Guilty, Bulbbul, Churails, Pushpavalli, and many more. But have you noticed certain similarities in most of them?
Every other female protagonist in these stories is either seen struggling and fighting odds to prove herself professionally and personally or survive the brutal life full of sexual, mental, physical or emotional abuse. And sometimes it’s the mix of these two.
Take for example, Netflix’s ‘She’ or Amazon Prime’s ‘Mirzapur’, in both these stories we find women to be victims of sexual or physical abuse trying to make a place of their own. In ‘Guilty’ and ‘Bulbbul’ we again see victims of sexual abuse. It seems to have become a norm to have an abusive back story for female characters in order to create a sentimental connect with the audience these days.
On the other hand, we have characters like those of Swara Bhaskar in ‘Bhaag Beanie Bhaag’ and Sobhita Dhulipala in ‘Made In Heaven’ where they both try to chase their dreams, though taking on different paths. There are also shows like ‘Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives’ and ‘Four More Shots Please’ where women from the higher spectrum of society are seen having fun though with problems of their own. So if the abuse angle isn’t there, we have ambitious modern woman living a life of luxury, talking freely about all that was ‘forbidden’ and dealing with either coming-of-age or other mental/psychological issues.
One might say that this is what the real world is all about for women, but then why do we claim to have evolved into a better, modern and egalitarian place to live in when we can’t even think of a fictional version of such a thing? Why do women need to have a tragic back story to behave in a certain way in the present? Couldn’t they just be perfectly imperfect or flawed without any reason or explanation?
The irony is, if they are, they aren’t the protagonist but straight away become the antagonist. To be able to rarely find something relatable to common Indian woman, both old and young, is both sad and concerning.
Though the hope remains alive when we see Mithila Palkar in ‘The Girl In The City’ or ‘Little Things’ or Nidhi Singh in ‘Permanent Roommates’, to have female version of characters like Breaking Bad’s Walter White or Scam 1992’s Harshad Mehta in Indian scenario, still seems like a far fetched dream.
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